CHAPTER TWENTY

Before Professor Fauna could stop her, Uchenna was walking down the alley, shouting, “Hey! Stop that right now!”

“Um, this is not good,” Professor Fauna muttered.

“Yeah. Go get her. And meet me in the street,” said Elliot.

“What? Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a hunch.” And with that, Elliot was running toward the truck.

“Children!” Professor Fauna whispered frantically. Neither heeded him.

“Hey!” Uchenna was shouting. “You two! What is that stuff?”

The Schmokers both let go of the barrel and stood up. The pink sludge continued to glug into the drain. Uchenna stopped walking toward them. Instead, they started walking toward her. The man cracked his knuckles. The woman pulled the crowbar from her pant-loop again.

Uchenna began wondering if, perhaps, she hadn’t made the wisest decision.

Then Professor Fauna stepped in front of her.

“¡Perdón!” he said.

The Schmokers hesitated.

“¿Hablan español?”

“We don’t speak Spanish,” said the man in an American accent.

“Ah! Of course.” Professor Fauna tried his hardest to smile. “Allow me to explain. My student here is very enthusiastic about water safety. We are here on a trip from the United States, as, it appears, are you. We are from New Jers—uh, from any state that is not New Jersey.” He flashed a smile at Uchenna. She stared straight ahead at the Schmokers, who were looking more skeptical by the second. “Anywhat,” Professor Fauna went on, “all my friend here can talk about is the bay and the underground aquifer and rainfall and the drought and—”

“Okay,” said the woman. She pointed the crowbar at Uchenna. “Just mind your own business, kid.”

“Of course,” Professor Fauna answered for her. “And I am so sorry. I will upbraid her censoriously.”

“We don’t speak weirdo, either,” said the man. “Now excuse us.” The Schmokers pushed past Uchenna and the Professor, leaving the barrel emptying into the sewer behind them, and headed back for their truck.

At the same moment, Elliot was looking in the windows of the truck’s cab. There were some papers sitting on the passenger side seat, and a couple of hard hats with the Schmoke S on them on the floor. Elliot took a deep breath, glanced at the alley, looked up and down the street to see if anyone else was watching him, and opened the driver side door of the truck.